Agricultural managed aquifer recharge locations in the southern Central Valley

This data repository contains supporting information and datasets from the publication titled \"Identifying agricultural managed aquifer recharge locations to benefit drinking water supply in rural communities\" published by Nisha Marwaha, George Kourakos, Elad Levintal, and Helen E. Dahlke in the journal Water Resources Research (https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028811).

The datasets are input and output files of a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis that combines biophysical data (soils, land use, and surface water conveyance) with groundwater modeling and particle tracking to identify suitable agricultural land parcels for multi-benefit groundwater recharge within well capture zones of 288 rural communities. Parcels are prioritized using a vulnerability index to change in groundwater supply, derived from well reliance and failures, pesticide applications, land subsidence, and socio-economic data. Our analysis identifies 2,998 suitable land parcels for Ag-MAR within the well capture zones of 149 of the 288 communities, of which 144 rely mainly on groundwater for drinking water. The majority of identified Ag-MAR parcels serve communities ranked as having extreme or very high vulnerability to changes in groundwater supply. Our research produces new understanding of factors contributing to community vulnerability and resilience to changes in drinking water supply and can be used to discuss actions to help achieve a stable and high-quality water supply.